Light at the End of the Tunnel
by Reija Linn
Summary: The Marauder's fifth year. Moony spends a full moon's night at the Shack, not knowing what his three friends are up to.


Title: Light at the End of the Tunnel  
Author: Reija Linn (T'Reija)  
Email/Feedback: theganan@gmx.de or thiari@theganan.de  
Archive: Azkaban's Lair, ff-net. Others please ask beforehand and leave the full header intact.  
Originally posted: SBRL list  
  
Pairing: Sirius/Remus pre-slash  
Rating: [PG]  
Summary: The Marauder's fifth year. Moony spends a full moon's night at the Shack, not knowing what his three friends are up to.  
Spoilers: Haven't read the books? Do so. Right away. Do not eat, sleep or pause until you're finished. Then come back.  
Warnings: male/male sexuality and/or relationship(s) featured within. Don't like, don't read, don't flame. Simple really, though seemingly not simple enough for some dim witted clots out there.  
  
Legal disclaimer: I never have, nor ever will, owned the rights to the setting of the Harry Potter books or the characters featured within. The use of said settings and characters by me is for non-commercial purposes only and does not mean to infringe upon the given legal rights that belong to Ms. J.K.Rowling and those she has associated them with.  
  
  
LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL  
by T'Reija, May 2002  
  
Remus regarded his familiar surroundings with resignation. In about an hours time, he would change, loose his form and his mind and everything inside of his that was human to the blinding blood-lust of the wolf. He, Remus, would still be there, trapped inside the beast's body, but unable to break through, unable to control the fury. And the monster that was him would tear its own skin, feed upon its own blood, just to hurt him, it's imprisoner.  
  
Already he felt the blood welling up in him, already he smelled the irony scent of his own juices, already he felt the impulse to sink his claws - nails - into pale skin, tearing, ripping...  
  
Silently trembling with fear and foreboding, Remus tried to shake off these futile thoughts, just as he had given up the thoughts of his suffering ever seizing. He was alone with this, and always would be.  
  
***  
  
In the secrecy of one of the hidden rooms the Marauders had discovered awhile back, James, Sirius and Peter anxiously waited for the potion to boil. This was it, this was the day they would finally attempt the full transfiguration. In the past few months, they had followed the instructions given in the book - Advanced Transfiguration: The Shamanistic Art of Animagus - precisely.  
  
First, you had to brew a potion that enabled you to visit the astral plane - whatever that was - and meet your animal guide. You had to befriend it, talk to it, become one with it. Then the second potion - temporary transformation, getting used to the animal form, getting used to the animal's mind that could be so different from the human's even if the soul therein was the same. It would only last five to ten minutes, and strain the wizard enormously, but it gave him the opportunity to feel the form he would transform into by his own will. Last - the final potion, to which some of the ingredients were hard to achieve.  
  
And this was the point they had arrived at right now.  
  
Anxiously, the three of them regarded the substance in the cauldron, then James finally stepped forward, using a ladle to extract some of the milky substance and added the final ingredients to it - a few short, brown strands of hair that clearly had belonged to an animal and three drops of his own blood which he squeezed out of his finger that he had previously pierced with a thin needle.  
  
The potion started to swirl by it's own volition, then turned into a crimson red as James pronounced the words to the spell carefully. He would only have one chance to this - if anything went wrong at all, the effects could turn out lethal - or worse. All of them had seen the pictures in the book "Transfigurations Gone Wrong or The Greatest Fumbles Of The Century". Hideous creatures with a human body, fur, crooked fingers sprouting claws, their features unrecognisably twisted.  
  
Muttering a silent prayer to himself, James finally gulped down the large spoonful of the potion, fear evident in his usually bright brown eyes.  
  
At first, nothing happened. James was just about to say something when his body went rigid. In fascinated horror his friends watched as his eyes rolled back, showing only the white. Then, suddenly, James went limp, falling to the floor as his legs gave way underneath him.  
  
But just as the other two were about to run to his side, the transformation started. Limbs rearranging themselves, features changing as antlers started to sprout on his forehead. In a matter of seconds, a handsome young stag was standing before Sirius and Peter, bowing his head in silent joy.  
  
Encouraged by this, Sirius repeated his friend's action, and after him Peter.  
  
They had did it!  
  
They had finally become animagi!  
  
***  
  
In the secluded sanctuary of the Shrieking Shack, the young werewolf howled in blind fury as his blood was gushing out of several self-inflicted wounds. Somewhere inside him, a young boy forced to mature beyond his years cried in pain and defeat.  
  
Another long night had begun for Remus Lupin, the werewolf.  
  
***  
  
The sound of four paws and hoofs each echoed through the long tunnel leading to the Shrieking Shack. Would an outsider have witnessed this strange sight of a large, black dog and a stag with a rat sitting between its antlers, he would probably have questioned his sanity. But there was no one here to bear witness, and so the strange party moved towards its destiny, hoping and praying that what was said about werewolves not attacking animals was also true for humans transfigurated into animal form. As a safety measure, none of them had taken a shower in the past three days (much to the dismay of their fellow Gryffindors) to lessen the artificial odours that usually surrounded humans.  
  
At last, they arrived at the door that led to the basement of the 'cursed' house. With his paws, the dog that was Sirius Black pushed back the heavy lever and opened the oak door.  
  
The moment had come.  
  
Padfoot beckoned his two friends to stay behind with a gesture of his head, then stepped into the room to meet his other best friend.  
  
***  
  
Moony was suddenly disturbed by a sound while gnawing at his own paw. With bloodshot eyes, he saw the accursed door that severed him from freedom slowly open.  
  
Roaring, he attempted to speed for it least it shut itself again, but then the scent met his super-sensitive nostrils. A somewhat familiar scent, yet he had never smelled it before. Canine and male, known yet not known, it made him halt in mid-leap.  
  
Finally, the owner of the strange scent made his entrance - a black dog with shabby fur, just about his own size, his ears pointed straight upwards in anxiety.  
  
Moony growled fiercely, the unmistakable sound of a wolf marking his territory to an intruder.  
  
The dog regarded him with friendly - if frightened - eyes, then slowly lowered himself to the ground, his ears flat against the back of his head, bearing his throat submissively to the fierce beast that was him.  
  
Slowly, carefully, the scent of both animal and human blood in his nostrils, Moony advanced upon the helpless figure, sniffing cautiously.  
  
A small whelp found it's way up Padfoot's throat as the large grey wolf plunged his nose into his own fur, sniffing all the way up to the bared throat, his paw dangerous and heavy on his stomach.  
  
One bite, and he was dead, thought Sirius inside the dog's head.  
  
One bite, and the taste of blood down my throat, thought Moony.  
  
One bite, and my best friend will be killed by my own teeth, Remus cried from the debts of the wolf's mind.  
  
Then, the moment of fear passed as the wolf took his paw off the dog in recognition. Slowly, he started to wag his tail.  
  
Perhaps, there was hope in his existence after all.  
  
For here, in what had been his prison for almost five years, Moony the werewolf and Remus the boy had both met what they had longed for all their live - a light at the end of a long dark tunnel.  
  
The End. 


End file.
